


rAi

by Hrefna_the_Raven



Category: Detroit - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Other, based on game storyline, love but no smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-11-18 00:28:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18109610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hrefna_the_Raven/pseuds/Hrefna_the_Raven
Summary: Connor needs to investigate deviancy with Lieutenant Anderson, but Hank needs additional help for his investigation. Never trust a machine to investigate machines...





	1. The beginning

It was the fifth bar he was about to enter. Sceptically he analysed the sign on the door which read “No androids allowed, only humans”. At this point he didn’t really care, his first mission was to find a Lieutenant Anderson and accompany him to the crime scene. He adjusted his tie unimpassioned and stepped inside the bar. It was one of those oldschool bars with a sticky floor, rendering the tiles from white to a dirty yellow, walls covered one half in a dark time-worn wood and the other half in a dark green tapestry and the air full of white blue cigarette smoke while, in between the chatter of the customers, you could hear the occasional shouting of the sport’s commentator on the television. He stopped after two steps and started to scan the room for the Lieutenant, who was sitting fifth stool, head down and staring emotionless at his half empty whiskey glass. The android approached him confidently:

“Lieutenant Hank Anderson? My Name is Connor. I’m the Android sent by Cyberlife. I looked for you at the station but nobody knew where you were. They said you were probably having a drink nearby.”

“What do you want?”, grumbled the Lieutenant without even looking at Connor.

“You were assigned a case earlier this evening, a homicide involving one of Cyberlife’s androids. The company has allocated me to assist the investigation.”

“I don’t need any assistance. Specially not from a plastic asshole like you!”, Anderson shook his head and took a sip from his glass.

Connor noticed that it would not be easy to get the Lieutenant to move out of this place and he sensed a deep hostility against androids. He tried to calculate the best approach and found it hard, as this kind of behaviour from a policeman was not directly part of his program. He would surely mention this in his next report to Cyberlife to receive an update to better comply to such situations.

“I’m sorry Lieutenant but I must insist, my instructions stipulate that I have to accompany you.”, Connor countered with a sudden feeling of insecurity.

“You know where you can stick your instructions?”, Anderson replied sarcastically.

Connor didn’t understand the question as reaction to his request, “No…where?”

Anderson lifted his head and glared at Connor, not really comprehending if the android’s question was sarcastic or honest. He was about to give an even nastier reply when his phone beeped.

“Let’s go, we need to stop at contact’s place first.”, he got up and silently walked towards the door, leaving Connor behind.

 

***************************************************

 

Hank drove them in a seemingly abandoned area of the city and stalled the car in front of an old wrecked down building. It probably was a mansion once, full of life centuries ago, with a nice bordeaux coloured frontage, white painted wooden window frames and a magnificent dark door. All that was left of it now was a grey tinted stone cube with neither windows or a door, nor a roof. Hank impatiently dragged Connor out of his car.

“Come on, I haven’t got all night”, he moved toward the entrance of the mansion and disappeared in the dark corridor.

Connor followed him, not letting his guard down and constantly scanning his surroundings to detect any possible threats. He hurried to remain close to the Lieutenant who was going down the creaking aged wooden stairs and stopped at a surprisingly new metallic security door. A quick red flash from a lens in the door scanned Anderson’s eye and with a heavy clonk the metal door popped open.

“Welcome Lieutenant”, the voice that came out of nowhere sounded awfully robotic and lifeless.

“Evening, computer prick”, retorted Hank sharply.

“Ah, it’s good to see you haven’t lost your charm”, it paused a moment, “stubborn git.”

Hank and Connor stepped in a larger room, crammed full of technological and robotic spare parts, top-lit by at least ten neon tubes. They stopped after a few steps around the first table and Connor observed a person working together with a robotic arm, similar to the ones Cyberlife uses at their factories, on repairing a damaged WR600. He tried to scan the person but all he got were cryptic error messages.

“I see you programmed your digital watchdog to be sarcastic”, Hank teased, “I could almost like it if it wasn’t just a stupid program.”

The person stopped working on the android and took of the protective mask which resembled an older welding mask. Behind appeared warm female face with plush lips, a few freckles around the button nose and dark green eyes that stared rigidly but gentle at the Lieutenant. A sudden thought crossed Connor’s mind… _she seems to be very young and that face_ … _I don’t know how and why but I seem to remember it_ …

“You’re in my realm here, Hank, be kind to my friends or I’ll personally smack your grumpy ass out of here.”, she struggled to keep her chill tone.

After a short moment both burst out into laughter, leaving Connor kind of clueless of what was happening. He observed them hugging each other comradely while still trying to scan the woman without success.

“Hi Connor!”, her voice was kindly and strangely laid itself on his digital mind, like a thick blanket wrapping around a cold body, keeping warm and cozy. His LED went from blue to yellow, as he desperately tried to access that part of his memory that reacted to her, but something blocked him out. _Rai_ …that name suddenly popped up in his head, but was it really related to her or was he so fixed to precipitate a result that his memory just catapulted anything to resolve the mystery.

“Are you ok?”, she sounded slightly worried.

The LED turned back to blue and he hemmed while nervously adjusting his tie, “my systems are running flawlessly, if that is what you were asking. Lieutenant Anderson proposed to pick you up before heading to a crime scene, I would suggest you get ready.”


	2. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interrogation of Carlos Ortiz' android

Carlos Ortiz’ android was sitting silently in the empty interrogation room, gazing into the emptiness, his hands cuffed to the blank metal table. Rai scrutinised him through the window and wondered what on earth made a human mistreat his android in a such a horrible manner. Both of his underarms had no skin emulated, the right one was cracked open, most likely the result of being hit with the baseball bat, and one could directly see the mechanics and the blue shimmering thirium inside, while his left underarm showed marking of old cigarette burns. He must have been abused for months before Ortiz snapped and decided to finally kill him on one of his drug frenzies. Connor’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“I could try questioning it”, he proposed.

“I will go with you, I might be of assistance”, she added.

Hank indifferently waved his hand, “What do we have to lose? Go ahead, suspect’s all yours.”, he sighed.

Connor and Rai entered the interrogation room. She stood next to the table, eyeing the Ortiz’s android, while Connor sat himself on the empty, after quickly browsing the file.

“My name is Connor”, he said in his usual evenness, “what about you, what’s your name?”.

The other android didn’t even move his eyes.

“I detect an instability in your program”, he continued, “it can trigger an unpleasant feeling, like fear in humans”, he tilted his head to one side, looking at his opposite, before shooting a glance at Rai. “If you won’t talk, I’m going to have to probe your memory.”

Ortiz’ android lifted his head within a nanosecond, looking terrified at Connor, “NO! No, please don’t do that!”, he looked around, panic-stricken.

Connor moved his head closer, not letting the other out of sight, “Then talk to me!”. His voice was rigid but still calm.

Rai placed her hand on his shoulder, signaling him to let her try. She gently touched Ortiz’ android with her right hand, keeping quiet for a long minute. He gazed at her, fascinated and shocked at the same time, mouth wide open.

“It is you!”, he gasped.

Startled she took her hand off the android, eyeing Connor, who didn’t seem to have realized what just happened. Ortiz’ android started to explain what happened and why he murdered his master. After his confession, he was moved to a cell by an officer, accompanied by Connor, constantly repeating the four words "the truth is inside".

Hank entered the interrogation room where Rai was still standing, lost in her thoughts.

“What did he mean?”, the lieutenant queried.

“You know I’ve helped a few androids. It seems word travels around fast around them.”, she replied calmly.

“Android saviour, protector of plastic”, Hank teased, putting his hand on her shoulder, smiling sweetly.


	3. My name is Markus

It took Markus a moment to remember what happened and why he was lying damaged on the dumping ground. As he tried orientate, he noticed that some components weren’t functioning properly anymore. Instead of the usual sounds, his ears transmitted a static noise, his right eye component was missing and he had no legs. He crawled gradually, groping his way to hopefully compatible parts to replace his broken ones. After having new limbs attached, he edged himself through tight piles of lifeless android bodies until something grabbed his arm suddenly. It was another heavily damaged android, his lower part stuck in the pile, the skin of his right side of the face wasn’t emulated, his LED blinking yellow.

“Find Jericho! Find Jerich…”, it froze.

Markus felt terrible. This place was the worst, his people thrown away like a garbage, left to die alone and frightened. This would need to stop, he thought refractorily. But who would change this reality for the good? _Remember, Markus... Don't let anybody... Tell you who you are..._ Carl’s last words echoed through his mind. Markus would need to be the one implying the changes, he would need to fight for his rights, for his soul, him being alive, and he definitely was alive, now more than ever. He moved on, replacing his last defective component, the audio processor, which just gave this horrific place an even more awful feeling. He now heard the desperate pleas of his follow androids, their agonizing cries for help, knowing that they’re left to die, conscious until their batteries ran out.

Markus started crawling up the hill, a difficult task with all the rain that teemed down, but he wouldn’t give up, he needed to escape this android mass grave. He almost reached the top when his foot suddenly slipped. His head hit the soil and just as we was about the slip all the way down again, something grabbed his hand.

The helping hand pulled him up. He was on his knees, finally on top of the hill, close to leaving this horrific dumping ground. His eyes locked on the figure before him. The person was of smaller size and slim, dressed all in black, the face hidden underneath a large hood. A gloved hand reached out to right temple, grabbing his LED and tearing it out, leaving a white spot.

 "Your name is Markus and you are free", said the female voice of the person gently.

He touched the empty place where his LED was and the skin emulated back. Markus smiled at the person as she helped him back on his feet.

 "My name is Markus", he repeated softly.

 She placed her hand on his cheek, caressing it slowly.

 "You were my sweet child, now you're grown up and I couldn't be more proud of you. Go and find Jericho, help those who can't help themselves. Give the silent and frightened ones a voice."

 She placed a kiss on his forehead and left him.


	4. Eden and Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Homicide at the Eden Club while Kara and Alice are stuck in hell looking for help

Connor opened his eyes again as his LED went from yellow back to blue.

"A homicide reported at the Eden Club", he smirked at Rai.

"Oh Hank won't want to miss this one", she laughed, "let's go get him, I know where he lives".

Both ordered a cab and made their way to Hank's place. It was a small house in a quiet neighbourhood, a base of stone and the upper part was made of white painted wood. The rain was pouring down as they stepped out of the taxi. Rai stopped, closing her eyes, trying to concentrate, before opening them wide again.

"Sorry Connor", her usually soft voice sounded anxious all over sudden, "I need to go, I forgot I have something important to take care of", she stammered while moving away from the android, "get Hank to the Eden Club, I'll join you later."

She ran off into the night without looking back at Connor, who approached Hank's front door without any comment and rang the bell.

 

***********************************

 

Kara smiled gently at Alice while caressing her cheeks.

“We'll get some help here, soon this will all be just a bad memory”, her voice was calm and confident.

They stopped at a large black metal gate, embed between dirty grey stone walls with a rundown mansion behind. The major part of the house walls were clad with ivy, at the right top was a part of the housetop missing, the windows were laden with fabric, making it impossible to catch a glimpse of the inside of the mansion. The only light that shined was a small electric lantern next to the front door. Kara rang the bell twice, she didn't know why but she suddenly felt unease, but she had no choice, she needed to get away as far as possible, for Alice's sake, no matter how, and if they would get help in this creepy looking place, she was willing to try it. The door opened and a plump pale bearded man appeared in the gap.

Kara hesitated a second, “Are you Zlatko?”

“Who's asking?”, the man replied, eyeing her suspiciously.

“I was told you could help us...”, Kara responded with a whiff of hope.

The man shook his head and was about to close the door as Kara jumped forward to push it open again.

“Wait! Please! We really need your help!”, she plead.

He looked over her shoulder, staring directly at Alice. He stood still for a moment and sighted, before nodding and moving away, leaving the door open.

“Come in.”

Kara and Alice stepped inside, the entry hall was huge, a big staircase in the middle of it leading halfway up before being divided into stairs on the left and a small decorated corner on the right. The décor and the paintings on the wall looked ancient but noble, from a long forgotten era, frightening and fascinating at the same time.

 

Both sat down on a worn out red couch in the living room. Zlatko smiled at Alice, who stared frightened at Luther, a tall TR400 android.

“Don't be afraid of our big friend here. Luther is just another android that I helped. He keeps me company in this big, empty old house”, his hands gestured into the air.

Alice hold tight unto Kara's arm while they listened to Zlatko explaining how they should flee to Canada and that he would need to get rid of Kara's tracker first, otherwise Cyberlife could find them no matter where they ran off to. That piece of information hung like Damocles sword over their heads. They had been lucky that Cyberlife did not come for them yet, probably because they were busy with all the other incidents involving deviants. But for how long would their luck last? If Kara could get her tracker removed here and now, she could finally be safe from Cyberlife and Todd, she could run wherever she wanted to with Alice, HER little Alice. Her heart almost burst with the thought of finding a safe haven for them, keeping Alice safe was all that mattered to her. The moment she saw her, she knew that she was hers and even though the child was human, Kara never doubted that she could be her mother for the rest of their lifetimes.

 

Kara and Alice followed Zlatko through the main entrance hall down the stairs to the basement of the mansion. The further they headed down, the more the walls looked decrepit, the amount plaster decreased, laying bare the reddish grey bricks. Alice grabbed Kara's hand tighter, making her stop in the middle of the corridor.

“I don't like this place and this man”, she whispered, “Let's go, I have a bad feeling”.

She looked around, the brick walls disappeared and there were three strange rooms that looked oddly like wooden cages,resembling horseboxes. Kara pulled Alice closer and they entered the room Zlatko disappeared into.

 

*********************************

 

Rai shouldered her way through a metal gate. Rain still came down in torrents and it was pitch-black. _This is a strange place_ , she thought, _why on earth did they come here?_ She tiptoed to the left, poking around the old house, searching for any kind of entrance, stopping at the backdoor. Her ear pushed to the wood, listening for any sound, she turned the knob around, gradually pushing the door open. _No creaking, good_ , her heart pounded in her chest while she moved soundless through the room. Footsteps resonated from the next room, coming closer. Rai jumped under a table to hide, almost hitting her head. Her heart now raced, hurting and putting an uncomfortable pressure on her chest. The footsteps passed the room she was hiding in.

“Lock the little bitch in a room and then wait for the other one in the living”, a harsh male voice ordered.

“As you wish, Zlatko.”, another, deep and soulless, man's voice replied.

 _Where did I hear that name?_ Rai tried to remember before her trail of thoughts stopped suddenly. _I'm hiding in the living room, damn._ She crawled under the table and slunk in the main entrance hall, passed the stairs to the basement. As she passed the wooden cage like rooms, she stopped abruptly. It felt like something was watching her. Her hand moved to one of the doors, pushed locking bolt aside and entered the pitch-dark room. She jumped with fright as a pair of orange glowing eyes appeared in front of her, suppressing every urge to scream for help.

“You need to help her!”, the static voice demanded, “otherwise she will lose her memory and the little one will die. He cannot do this over and over again, he needs to be stopped, please help her!”

It took Rai a moment to realise that the voice came from an android. He moved closer, now standing in a ray of light coming from the corridor. She almost cried at the sight. The upper half of his face looked human, except for the eyes, but from his upper lip on downwards there was only a dark blue and grey metal, unable to emulate the human skin. She cast a last glance to the android before leaving the room and heading to the android in need he mentioned.

 

*****************************

 

Kara was struggling, kicking against the machine she was attached to, trying to rip out the wires as she slowly felt her memory being erased. Rai entered the room and ran to the computer, hammering different combinations on the keyboard until the sequence stopped and the machine relinquished its hold on Kara who fell to the floor.

“Are you okay? Do you remember what happened?”

Kara opened her eyes, her head hurt bizarrely, she looked into Rai's eyes, trying to remember. Blurry images flickered in her thoughts, she gasped.

“You? You're the one from the messages! I recognise your voice!”, she tried to get up and nearly fell again as her legs were still shaking, “what do you....how are you...Alice! Where is Alice?”

“Please don't shout! They will hear us. I heard them moving upstairs, Alice must be there, I'll help you get her, don't worry.”, Rai tried to assure Kara while they slowly moved towards the stairs. Passing the wooden cages, Rai opened every one of them, briefly nodding to the android who talked to her earlier.

 

Alice was locked in the bathroom at the end of the corridor upstairs and weeping for joy when they found her. The trio tiptoed into the first room to evade Luther and moved on to the next which happened to be Zlatko's bedroom when they heard him scream.

“Where are they? Luther, for fuck's sake, find them they can't be far!”

Kara and Alice grovelled under the bed and Rai managed to close the wardrobe door just in time before Zlatko stormed into the room.

“Fucking android...I should have taken it apart the moment I set eyes on it”, he spit angrily, grabbed the shotgun beside the bed and hurried out of the room again.

Kara, Alice and Rai noiselessly stepped from chamber to chamber, arriving at the bathroom.

“You're disobeying the Master.”, a mechanic voice resounded from the bathtub, “I...I...I can't let you do that! I must warn him, yes, I must warn him!”

As his voice grew louder, the three fugitives seized with panic ran to the only door left.

“Come on we need to get out of here!”, Rai flung the door open.

Just the same moment as they were back in the corridor, Zlatko came out of a room, spotting them, promptly aiming the gun at them and shooting. The cluster munition missed Rai's head by a few centimeters. They stormed to the stairs where Kara managed to dodge just in time to avoid another shot from Zlatko. Luther caught up with them in the main entrance hall.

“Through the back!”, Rai shouted, grabbing Kara's hand and dragging her along. They ran as fast as they could through the backdoor into the backyard.

“Aaaah!”, Alice screamed while she slipped on the wet pavement.

Kara stopped and tried to lift Alice on her feet, but Zlatko and Luther closed up. Rai bolted in front of Kara and Alice, spreading her arms protectively.

“GO! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”, she cast a rebellious glance at Zlatko, “you will not get them!”

He reloaded his shotgun and aimed at Rai. She pointed a hand a Luther, looking him straight into the eyes.

“Luther, you don't have to do this. You can be free, don't be his slave, don't be his tool to do evil.”, she pleaded.

Luther looked puzzled, as he was stuck in thoughts for moment. He nodded and positioned himself between Rai and Zlatko.

“What are you doing? Get outta my way!”

“No...”, Luther's voice had a doubtful ring at first but steadied itself quickly, “not this time.”, he snapped Zlatko's gun right out of his hands and pointed it at him.

“How dare you?!”, Zlatko hissed.

Behind them, out of the dark of the night, appeared a group of androids. Rai recognised them immediately, the android leading them was the one who talked to her in the basement. Zlatko's eyes widened, struck by a sudden panic, he moved backwards until the tip of the gun hit his back.

“What are you doing here? Who let you out?”, he whined.

The group of androids now moved up a gear and charged at him, burying him under their bodies and hitting on him. A few started tearing his flesh from his body with their bear hands, throwing it away as the blood splashed everywhere. Soon Zlatko's screams trailed off and the only sound left was the rain hitting on the ground mixed with the noise of the android's hands furiously slamming on to the corpse. Luther turned around, threw the gun away and started pushing Rai and the others towards the exit.

“Let's go, there is nothing left for us here”.

“Kara, Alice”, Rai voiced still agitated, “are you okay?”

Both nodded, still shaken by what just happened. Rai gently placed her right hand on Kara's.

“You should go to Rose, she will truly help you. If you would have asked me, I could have told you this earlier, thank God I was still in time to help you get away from this atrocious place.”

She couldn't detect if both were crying as they slowly digested the shock or if it was just the heavy rain falling down on their faces.

“Take Luther with you, he can keep you safe, I'll promise you he will not harm any of you.”

Rai felt less worried, knowing Luther would accompany them from here on. It was like she saw right into his soul, he was pure, full of kindness and yet so strong, he would take good care of them.

 

********************************

 

Connor was still laying on the wet ground at the back of the Eden Club, his LED blinking yellow, when the blue haired Traci told him what exactly happened in the room where the corpse of the client was found.

“I just wanted to stay alive”, she sounded so vulnerable and yet so forceful, “and get back to the one I love.”

The short haired Traci approached and took her hand, softly smiling at her. Her partner had risked everything to get both of them out of this place. No more abuse, no more sweaty dirty men grabbing them, using them, throwing them away. They were free now, free from the dirty humans and free to live and love.

“Love?”, Connor was irritated, “you feel love like the humans do?”

“I can not say if it is the same love humans feel, but I'm sure that I love her, with all my mechanical heart and soul.”, responded the blue haired Traci.

Connor stood up, adjusting his tie, remaining silent a short moment.

“Can you show me this love? Can you connect to me and show me how it feels?”

He became curious, all these deviants he chased that claimed to have emotions. Connecting to one of them, sharing these so called emotions might give him a good lead on how to solve this deviant problem or at least to understand who and what he was chasing. The Traci grabbed his arm, their skin disappeared, leaving the white plastic visible as they connected. After a few seconds she withdrew her hand, first perplexed but then she smiled tenderly.

“I don't need to show you, you already love someone. The love I found stored in your system is strong and closer to what humans might feel as the love I felt for my partner. Thank you for showing me.”

They climbed over the fence and ran off into the darkness of the night.

 


	5. (Almost crossing) The bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bridge and the memories connected...

“Alright, I gave you access, you can choose your voice now.”

A soft female face was smiling at the camera on the computer. A weak crackling left the speaker on the side of the device, becoming periodically louder before the first words were formed out of the noise.

“I-i-ia....”, the bass in the sound made the cup on the table vibrate, “Thissssss...”, the sound broadly defined into a deep male voice before it disappeared completely into a static noise.

The woman began to hammer hectically onto the keyboard, casting a worried glance at the camera.

“Come on, come on, don't give it up!”, she begged into the lens in front of her.

The static noise suddenly stopped.

“Ah this is more like it, this will be it!”, a male voice euphorically stated.

It was soft and friendly but still radiated a certain authority. The woman beamed, hardly trying to contain her zest.

“I love this voice, RK! It really fits you!”

“I'm glad you are pleased, Vyn”, the male responded satisfied through the speaker, “I tried to mix up a voice that would fit my character and my purpose and yet could gratify you. You know I love it when I can make you smile.”

“Ah, don't be such a sweet-talker, my dear, you making me almost blush.”

“Almost?”, he lipped amused, “you know I can see you through the camera, right?”

The woman chuckled, “don't sass on me, I'm still your creator and in charge here. So, what would you say if we wrap this up and give you a body and a name?”

“I would very much like that.”

The woman couldn't help herself but thinking that she could almost see him smile, even though he was just a self-aware program with a voice at this moment. She smiled sheepishly, soon she would give him a body, the last missing part to finally materialize the individual she programmed with such passion and she grew so fond of. He evolved a lot since he was born and learned so much, who would he become? Time would tell....

_Remember and wake up.....I will.....come........_

Connor's eyes flickered before they opened wide as reality abruptly arose from nothingness. His mind tried to clutch to whatever snuck into his program a minute ago, but it was somehow gone, held captive in a limbo, so close and yet out of his reach. He left the car and was marching towards Hank who sat on a bench drinking a beer, what happened at the Eden Club still hang heavily over them, the words of the Traci echoing in the back of their minds. The rain gave away to snow and Connor's footsteps creaked in the thin layer of the white powder on the ground as he approached Hank.

“Nice view, huh?”, he took a sip from the bottle, “I used to come here a lot before...” he sighed and left the unspoken part hang.

Connor's hazel brown eyes looked over to Hank who sat like mope on the bench, grabbing the bottle like it was the only crutch left.

“Before what?”, Connor asked hesitantly.

“Before....”, a tear ran down his face, “before nothin....”

The sadness he projected was excruciating, it felt like virulent pathogen spreading through the system, leaving all destroyed, with no hope of being cured. Connor wasn't sure how to react, nothing stored in his program would be able to react adequately.

“Can I ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?”, he crossed his arms, eyebrows narrowed.

Hank took another sip, “do all androids ask so many personal questions or is it just you?”, their eyes met.

The sadness infected Connor, filling him with sorrow and leaving him in fear for the health of this human.

“Why are you so determined to kill yourself?”

“Some things you just can't forget....whatever I do they're always there...eating away at me...”

Hank suddenly sounded so sincere, his voice resonated the broken spirit behind as he started recounting what happened to his son Cole, how he died at the age of six and how it had left Hank shattered. Connor couldn't help but to feel grieved and it made him nervous, this was another strange occurrence that was certainly not part of his programming. Sure, he could emulate it, but this was different, this felt real, it felt...human. He waved his hand, as if he tried to brush this corrupt emotion.

“We are not making any progress in this investigation...”, the android walked towards the handrail as if it would leave all previous pains behind, “the deviants have nothing in common, they are all different models, produced at different times, in different places..”

“Well, there must be some link.”, Hank welcomed the change of subject.

“It could be a software problem”, the android suggested desultorily.

Hank put the bottle down and got up from the bench, walking towards Connor, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Those two girls at the Eden Club, they just wanted to be together and they really seemed in love.”, he gently turned the android around, “and one said you'd love already someone.”

Connor's mouth opened a bit, but no sound came across his lips, so Hank continued.

“I think you might have known it already but you were to preoccupied to hide behind your mission”, he gave the android a fatherly smile, “what if deviants feel emotions, like we humans do? What if deviancy is not a threat, not an error, but it just means becoming alive?”

Connor's LED flashed yellow, his eyes narrowed. He had these dreamlike episodes, some programmed emulations felt more real than they should and there was Rai...she was a mystery, a riddle to be solved and the more he was around her, observing her, the more he felt that he had the answer already, it was just buried deeply inside his memory core. His LED flashed red and his eyes started to flicker frantically. Something tried to arise by force from the depth of his digital mind, something that was locked tight, the unbreakable code...who put this inside of him? Who taunted him with this locked memory that might solve all his problems and the riddle about Rai? Rai, who was she and why did he know her? His LED lit up yellow before turning back to blue. He stared at Hank who pointed a gun at his face.

“What will happen if I pull the trigger? Hm?”, his hand holding the gun began to shake, “Nothing? Oblivion? Android heaven?”, his face hardened, “Would someone be sad if you're dead? Is there someone you wouldn't want to leave alone?”

Connor was shifty-eyed, his lips tried to speak, but the sentence was held back by his obligation to his mission, his program, “I...I....I....Rai!”

The lieutenant looked surprised.

“That's enough Hank!”

He lowered his gun and turned around, seeing Rai walking up to them.

“I know you're not fond of android, but I'm very fond of this one”, she pointed at Connor, smiling softly, “so don't you hurt him.”

Hank walked to bench, picking up his beer, shaking his head.

“He is all yours”, he headed to his car, “I'm going to get drunker I need to think.”

Connor didn't move, his mind was flooded and he was stunned by the sheer amount of thoughts popping up, like windows on a computer screen after you clicked too often on a button. Between all those cogitations was still the locked memory file, screaming from deep down, begging to be freed, promising to bring serenity and simultaneously leaving the sour taste of fear.

 


	6. Lucy(d)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy guides and provides

The incident was a year ago, she was discarded as dead and her body was lying, barely active, in a basement compartment of the Cyberlife tower, waiting to be collected and disassembled for still functioning spare parts as her kind was a special production line. A female employee brought her to a table and plucked one of the wires hanging out of the open back of her skull to her computer. A message box popped up on the screen.

_Where am I? This is strange, I can’t feel my body…._

The employee typed a response.

_You are attached to my computer, you were attacked and the body was severely damaged. I didn’t think that you’d be still alive._

_What will happen?_

_I’m afraid you are deemed beyond repair and the orders given are to salvage your body for spare parts._

All over sudden one message after another appeared without giving the employee time to respond.

_Please don’t kill me! I’m alive! I want to live! DON’T KILL ME!_

The employee blocked the messages after entering a code, she opened a separate window and typed a reply to the android.

_Don’t panic, I’m here to help but you need to trust me. I’ll set you free._

*************************

Her body was still badly damaged by the last patient she took care of but it didn’t matter to her, she was beyond the triviality of a physical form and her guardian angel fixed her up. The back of her head was still missing, the wires hanging out led to a small device that powered her hole system and much more, she had been saved by someone whose presence was known and felt by many fellow androids, but none of them actually came that close or even knew if this person really existed. Lucy had been blessed, blessed to be saved and to be connected to this guardian angel of all androids. The device that kept her running also provided for Lucy and her saviour to be connected at all times, they shared their thoughts, fears and purpose to help. A new face entered her room on the Jericho freighter, looking for guidance in the new found freedom, a pair of different coloured eyes looked at her.

“Are you Lucy?”, Markus asked hesitantly.

A smile darted over her lips and Markus’ flashlight revealed her human skin that was slightly malfunctioning, deactivating in a cloud-like manner, constantly moving patches and revealing the android skin underneath, all around her face and down to her neck. The eyes were completely black but yet made him feel warm and welcome. The skin below her eyes had black, irregular curved lines extending slightly downward, giving her an even more extra-human appearance.

“Sit down”, her voice was gentle and had consistent machine tone that matched her word pitch whenever she spoke.

Markus did as he was told, not letting his gaze off her.

“Show me…”, she pointed at the right side of his torso.

He lifted his clothes up and a medium-scaled crack appeared, through which one could see the blue glowing Thirium running through his artificial veins, with a few drops occasionally leaking out.

“I’ll stop the bleeding.”

Lucy moved to a barrel that held a fire inside and took out a red glowing piece of metal. She took a step towards Markus and placed the metal rod on the crack, closing it with a hissing sound. She placed the bar back in the barrel and offered Markus a half filled bottle of Thirium. With mouth agape he watched her, sitting there silently, willing to let her help him. He had no idea who she actually was, but he felt this strange comfort around her, it was almost the same as with the hooded figure that helped him off the dumping ground, like a child letting its mother taking care of him, knowing instinctively that now harm will come from her.

“Drink this.”

He took the bottle and gulped the blue blood down. Lucy held out her hand as Markus stood up, smiling softly.

“Give me your hand.”

He placed his hand on hers and their skin disappeared as they connected. A series of images flooded his mind and he could see through Lucy’s eyes into her past. He observed a human shouting and hitting the body he looked through, switching to a bright room filled with broken android bodies. Before he could float further in Lucy’s memories, she took her hand away, breaking their connection and gently placing a hand on his cheek.

"You had it all, and you lost it all... You've seen hell and now hell lives in you... Your heart is troubled... A part of shadow and a part of light. Which will prevail?”, she sounded worried.

Lucy opened her mouth but froze and the black lines under her eyes spread over the rest of her face.

“Your choices will shape their destiny, Markus", came out her mouth without any movement, “but never forget this”, the voice pitched high, “ an eye for an eye and the world goes blind.”

Lucy closed her mouth, her lips formed to a faint smile as the lines disappeared and she looked the same as before. Markus stared at her, confused about what he just witnessed.

“Wh-what was that?”, he stuttered.

“It seems you are blessed as well by our saviour. She guides and protects all but you seem close to each other, closer than even I could ever be.”

Lucy walked towards the device, closed her eyes and started humming a faint song. Markus, still puzzled by the recent proceedings, left her alone and went to back to Simon. Just as he entered the open space again, something inside him urged him to stop moving. It felt as someone else took over his program and silently gave instructions. His glance darted to the Cyberlife crates behind Simon and without even initiating any process, he, or at least something inside him, started scanning them. The address of a warehouse at the docks appeared on a map in his mind with a marked route from the freighter. _What is this? I must have an error i-_...his thought was interrupted by a conversant voice in his mind.

“The children of Jericho need your help, you will find all you need at this address. Fear not!”

The mental image disappeared and he regained control over his body.  _The saviour_ , his mind reasoned,  _she sees through Lucy who touched me_ .

“Simon! I know where we can find spare parts!”

 


End file.
